A Thousand Years
by Twistedsystem009
Summary: "It's...it's not always easy. It's like standing in the middle of fog. You don't know which way to go, and every way seems to be a dead end, so the only way to escape is wait for the fog to clear. And it takes a while." They were inches apart now, slowly falling into each other's arms. Into that endless pit that they couldn't climb out of.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

"Just pull your arm back-slowly, carefully. Not too tense." Vilkas said, standing behind Analia with his arms crossed. "Why isn't Felicity teaching me archery?" She asked, throwing him a grin. "She's busy. Now focus." He said, sharper than he intended to. She released the bowstring and let the arrow fly forwards, into the center of the target. "Happy now?" She scowled, sheathing her bow. "Analia..." Vilkas sighed. "It's time for lunch." She said shortly, spinning on her heel and trudging back towards Whiterun. "Oi! You two!" A guard called, sprinting in their direction. "What're you doing with those weapons?" He panted, as more guards came up behind them. "We were training." Analia frowned, hands on her hips. "Well, aren't you a bit young?" He asked. "We're with the Companions, and we're only 14!" She defended, bristling with anger. "Sorry...ma'am, but those are stolen weapons." He said, touching the hilt of his sword, to which Analia touched her own in reply. "We got them from _Jorvaskr_." Her voice was low and deadly, enough to make a man quiver with fear. But this guard was strong. "Do you have witnesses?" He asked, now on eye-level with Analia. "Yes. Felicity, Farkas, Kodlak, Tennas, and C'ait." She pursed her lips. "Who handed these out to you?" The guard sounded almost embarassed now. "Tennas." Analia answered, countering the guard's suspicous look with a glare. "The Dark Elf?" He asked wearily. "_Tennas_ is _not_ a thief! I trust him." Analia admitted, straightening to full her height, which was just an inch or two shorter then Vilkas. "_We'll_ decide that. Scurry on back to your washing, girl." The guard huffed. That was the breaking point. Analia smacked the guard upside the head, socked him in the stomach, and brushed past him with an icy glare. "Analia!" Vilkas scolded her, glancing back in the directon of the doubled over guard. "He deserved it! And it was completely justified." She said, lifting her chin. Vilkas couldn't blame her. Analia was far from a housewife, or anything that involved sitting at home and doing chores. She was strong, physically and mentally-booksmart, deadly with both her tongue, a sword, and a simple flame spell. She was versed in every language, and could kill with her knowledge as well as a master thief could raid an entire shop. She was training in archery and unarmed combat, while learning as much about the Daedra as possible. She was smarter then Vilkas and the court mage combined. She was pretty, too. It sounded so stupid when he said it in his head, but she was. Lovely dark hair down to her shoulders, silver eyes, naturally arched eyebrows, the perfect type of pale skin, and armour that she had crafted herself. It was made of Sabre Cat pelt, with a fur cape, Sabre Cat teeth on the shoulders, steel and fur gauntlets, fur-lined boots, steel protecting her stomach, and a belt with all of the different gems.

"Tennas!" Vilkas hadn't realized that they had arrived back in Jorvaskr. "Yes, m'dear?" He grinned with his yellowed teeth. "Did you steal these?" Everyone fell silent, waiting for his reply. He furrowed his thick brow, and stared up at the two of them with baggy bloodshot eyes. "And why do you think I did that?" There was an edge to his voice. "We almost got arrested for carrying stolen items!" She cried, slapping the mead bottle out of his hand. "Well..." Before Tennas could explain, the same group of guards burst into their hall, swords drawn. "What's all this about?" Kodlak asked, having just arrived. "Your Elven friend here stole these weapons." The guard rudely yanked the bow off of Analia's back, and the sword from her scabbard. She turned, ready to brawl, when Kodlak stepped between them. "I would only ask that you treat our members with respect." There was a painful silence, and the guard looked like he had been slapped. "I'm sorry, sir, but your friend stole these weapons. We're sure of it." The other guards looked nervous, and tried to back out of the mead hall. "Tennas?" Kodlak turned, the painful silence resumed. "I...I..." Tennas looked around the room, trying to avoid Kodlak's disappointed expression. "You're going in the dungeons, elf. And if we could have that stolen weapon, boy." Vilkas handed over the sword reluctantly; he hated that they were right about Tennas. Everyone could tell that Analia was biting back an long string of profanties at Tennas. She was stubborn and hot-headed when it came to someone-or herself-being accused of something she was sure they didn't do. Felicity stood behind her, watching Tennas go with her good eye, resting a hand on Analia's shoulder. "I trusted him." Analia finally said, very softly, but everyone heard. Her emotions were so...erratic. She was never just happy, sad, or mad, but always a mixture of every other emotion, including those three. Right now, she was feeling betrayed, furious, and hurt all at the same time. Vilkas wondered how she could juggle all of those feelings, and how she stopped herself from sinking into the pit of despair he knew all too well. Analia turned towards the training yard, somewhere she often went-besides the Whiterun plains-when she was overwhelmed. After an hour or so, Felicity told Vilkas to bring Analia some food, as she hadn't stopped training during the hour. Vilkas gathered up a platter of food from the table and stepped out into the blazing heat.

The porch was deserted, and Analia was the only one at the training dummies. She turned at the sound of his footsteps, shaking violently and sweating excessively. She launched a throwing knife at him, and hit the doors just beside his head with so much force that they swung open. She slid down the stone wall, scarring the leather on the back of her tunic. "Good aim." He grinned, setting down the platter between them. She downed an entire jug of water and ripped into a hunk of venison with her teeth. Vilkas tilted his head towards the sun and glimpsed a completely shredded training dummy. It could have been the venison Analia had already devoured half of. "Sorry about the knife." She gasped, swallowing a loaf of bread, and reaching for a wedge of goat cheese. "It's fine." He replied. "Bloody good aim, eh?" She grinned, gulping down half of an ale bottle. "Are you alright?" He asked in a monotone. She squinted at him, not even trying to shield the sun from her eyes. "I trusted him and he betrayed my trust. I rarely put faith in anyone, but I had faith that he wouldn't turn back to his criminal past. I was wrong." Her last few words were soft, and she turned her face away from Vilkas, standing, now that her strength was renewed. "I'm going to sleep for a while. Me and Felicity are going on a hunt later, if you want to come." She offered, lingering on the porch steps. "I'd rather not be in the middle of that hunt." Vilkas joked, still sitting against the wall. Analia smiled. "Alright, then." And she disappeared into Jorvaskr.

**Like it? I think I did pretty good. I'm sorry you didn't get to meet the other characters, but I'm hoping to have them return in a later chapter. And C'ait's name is pronounced Ki (like hi, but with a k-well, C, really, but for pronouncing purposes we'll say k)-eight. Ki-eight. Ki-eight. Ki-eight. Get it BURNED INTO YOUR MEMORY CORE. Or something like that. She's a Khajeet, by the way. Thanks for reading :D**


	2. Chapter 2 Promises Broken

Analia hissed in pain as her makeshift needle painfully pierced her skin. She wrung her hands and set down the half-sewn piece of armour, with a string of Sabre Cat teeth hanging off of it. She stooped down to step out of the tent and started towards the cooking pot. She made a simple dinner-venison, cheese, bread, and ale-and nibbled at it, lost in her thoughts, staring in the direction of familar stone walls. There was Whiterun, Dragonsreach perched just high enough to see the tip of its roof. If she closed her eyes, she could see every part of it, except for some of the details; like the beauty of the Gildergreen, or the exact green of the roof shackles, and the glaring fire of Jorvaskr. Analia put a hand on her stomach, coated in thick hides. She could remember the most important things, though-the trademark doors, the well in the market square, the tilted roof of Jorvaskr, Felicity's warm voice floating to the mead hall from the living quarters, and the exact shine of the glass sword mounted on the post by the stairs. She opened her eyes, and everything was gone. The only thing that still stuck in her mind was the day that Tennas had been taken away. She remembered every second of the hour she had spent in that training yard, shredding up the dummy to release her anger. It was more betrayl than anger, though. The only person that she had _really_ trusted was a hopeless criminal. _Not even that, _She thought, _but a liar. _She clenched her stomach, squeezing her eyes shut. But now she had more important things to worry about, not just her past, but...there was one thing that she needed to take care of before this next step in her fatal journey to save Skyrim.

XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX XxooxX

No one even noticed the stranger slip inside until she hit the loose board in the floor, which made a loud splintering noise. Everyone turned their heads, as no member of Jorvaskr ever hit that board, for they knew it was there and didn't want to break it. She held her head high and took a quick glance around the room. She only saw one familiar face. _Farkas._ She thought, remembering how she used to be the only one who could tell the twins apart. And even now it brought her no problem. By now, everyone had returned to their previous activites, except for Farkas and one other man, who seemed to be working her out. She pulled out the chair next to Farkas. "Hey, you big loveable puppy." She said fondly, gauging his reaction. It took him a few seconds to work it out, but he put it together eventually. "Analia!" He pulled me into a tight embrace, and almost onto his lap. "Where's Vilkas?" She asked, praying to Talos that he had stayed with the Companions, or was at least here in between jobs. "He's downstairs with Kodlak. You remember which room, right?" Farkas raised an eyebrow. She looked down and chuckled, "It's hard to forget." She stood and passed the man still trying to figure her out, towards the stairs. Each step made her heart beat faster and, eventually, her heart was banging against her ribcage, and blood pounding in her ears. It felt like she had been running all the way to Whiterun and the room at the end of the hall without stopping. When she reached the Harbinger's quarters, a man sitting opposite Kodlak, who she didn't even need to take a second glance at to figure out his identity, stopped speaking abrubtly and glared. "Another new recruit?" He asked sullenly, obviously angry to have been interupted. "That would be impossible, as I'm already a Companion." A coy smirk danced across her lips. Vilkas arched an eyebrow, to which Analia replied, "I'm surprised you don't recognize me." Kodlak seemed to have realized who she was, but wasn't going to interupt. She liked to toy with people-drawing out the end was always fun with situtations like this. "I don't know what you're talking about." He hugged his arms tighter to his chest, as if trying to plug a hole.

"I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to figure it out on your own."

"I'm not going to figure it out on my own."

"I guess the curiousity stopped a while back."

"What?"

"Back when you still cared."

He seemed shocked by the last sentence and the icy look in Analia's eyes. But the look was all too familar. "Ana...Analia?" He took a step towards her. She could almost feel his unusually icy breath for a werewolf. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, as he grasped her arms, tilting her head up to his. She opened her eyes and another weak breath left her, as she stared into his steely-blue eyes and his into her gleaming silver ones. Her whole body trembled when he pressed their lips together in an icy, yet gentle, kiss. "I never thought I'd see you again." He whispered in her ear, when he embraced her, more gently than Farkas had, but more affective than his brother's bearhug. She felt like breaking down and crying in his arms, but she was stronger than before. She could hold herself together until she was alone...like always. "Analia." Kodlak said, resting a hand on her shoulder. She smiled, biting back a wave of tears and nodded, not trusting her voice. All these years, her tongue had been the sharpest thing in her, but now it felt dull. When he looked into her eyes, she could feel the blade cutting her wrists. _All of those habits...they're gone now. _She told herself, hiding her right forearm from view. "You two go catch up. We can talk later." Kodlak ordered, ushering them out of the room. Vilkas led her down the corridor, to two sets of doors, and inside of one of them. When they sat down on his bed, Analia spilled everything. Well, almost everything.

"You're the...Dragonborn?" He asked in disbelief. "Y-yeah." She stammered, blinking away the tears. "Then why aren't you out killing dragons?!" He said loudly, standing. "It's...it's not always easy. It's like standing in the middle of fog. You don't know which way to go, and every way seems to be a dead end, so the only way to escape is wait for the fog to clear. And it takes a while." They were inches apart now, slowly falling into each other's arms. Into that endless pit that they couldn't climb out of.

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**Dramatic. Love ya guys xxooxxoo**


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